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PS3 Recommendations

I'm getting a PS3 for Christmas. Most things come out on PC, but Sony has some exclusives that I just can't say no to--see Dragon's Crown and The Last Guardian for two upcoming titles that look quite appealing.

However, what about some titles that are currently out? I've heard really great things about Dark Souls. Based on what I've heard about it, it seems to have a perspective on challenge and player skill that's similar to Monster Hunter, which I love. I understand that they're mechanically very different, but is my inference about their tone (let's call it that) correct?

Please bear in mind that, barring perhaps an occasion to patch up some titles, the PS3 will be offline only.

Also, I am getting these titles for Christmas from various sources: Dirt 3, Resistance 1&2 Bundle, Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Bundle (loved SotC, missed out on ICO the first time round), and Red Dead Redemption (GOTY edition).

I've said it every time someone asks for PS3 suggestions: Valkyria Chronicles. Even if you're not a big fan of anime/manga influences, this game is just great. Mechanically, it's what XCOM should have been.

3D Dot Game Heroes, oldschool Zelda experience from the makers of Demon's Souls.

I got myself a PS3 a few months ago and I gotta say that I really enjoyed Infamous. Also got myself Ico/Shadow of the Colossus package cuz a friend of mine suggested I'd get that. Have only tried Shadow of the Colossus so far but it's really fun climbing some giants and stabbing them in their weakspots.

Dark Souls is good, it's incredibly hard but it's worth it. Gran Turismo 5 is probably my most played PS3 game, although I suspect it's not a huge improvement over previous iterations the last one I played properly was 2. The lack of proper damage modelling is quite glaring these days, but it's a lot of fun and the sheer size of the game makes it a lot more compelling than racing games like Grid.

Vanquish is an exceptional third person shooter, enjoyed that a lot.
Army of Two 40th day is great if you've got a dedicated coop partner to play with, otherwise forget it.
Saints Row The Third may be taking the headlines currently but the second one is definately worth checking out on console.
Valkyria Chronicles is kinda flawed but worth checking out if you're a turn-based fan. The emphasis in doing well is squarely on finding the quickest way to finish missions though so it's closer to being a puzzle game than an XCOM style one (IMO).
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection + MGS4 if you're prepared to put up with pretentious bullshit. Snake Eater is the best of 'em though.

Little Big Planet is the only PS3 game I've played that stood out as great, but I'm not sure how much fun it will be if you can't go online with it. As a platformer to make levels and behave like a loonie with friends it's great fun though.

Little Big Planet's single player is great I think and to be honest I haven't really gone online with it that much and i still really enjoyed it. Not to sure on the sequel but if its anything like the first one but better then it probably is great.

I wouldn't get Dark or Demon's Souls if you don't plan to use the online element. There's very little direct interaction with other players, but I consider it essential to the game. You're really missing out if you ignore it.

Dark Souls isn't as good as Demon's Souls. It still has some serious performance issues, too. Plus Demon's Souls servers were shut down when Dark Souls came out so it doesn't even matter now if your connection is live! And Demon's Souls is likely much cheaper. So yeah, Demon's Souls all around steals the recommendation.

Valkyria Chronicles is always nice. It's probably the most played game on my PS3 (at maybe ~60 hours... poor thing is just a glorified DVD/netflix/music player most of the time). Of course the sequels are only on PSP; good thing my roommate has one he never uses.

I absolutely love Uncharted (all o' them) for how unabashedly silly it is, but they're great fun. It's like... I dunno, 'push button to awesome', but done right, if that makes any sense. There's a re-release of latest three Tomb Raider games too, which are really-but-then-again-not-really similar, and I always found those fun.

Flower is something everybody ought to play, because it's simple and sublime and not like anything else at all.

Heavenly Sword is delightfully and knowingly silly as well; I always liked it far more than the God of War games, if that interests you at all.

Rock Band can be fun if you're just dicking about with friends.

And speaking of dicking about with friends - there's a few downloadable titles mine and I played the hell out of. Castle Crashers (is awesome), Fat Princess (priest circlejerk for MAXIMUM TROLLAGE), Dungeon Defenders, but the crown goes to a little game called Tank Battles. Stupid little top down dual stick shooter for up to four players. Far more fun than it should be. I don't think we even paid for it; my roommate's brother did, but we have his account info on both our PS3s...

I bought used PS3 a bit over a month ago. I have Valkyria Chronicles, Uncharted and Red Dead Redemption. What I would like to see is ps2 ports to come to EU psn. I just want Odin Sphere. Also from PSN a title named Might & Magic Clash of Heroes is rather nice turn based jrpgish game. While not my first console (had psp few years ago) I really suck with controller.

So, recommendations. Valkyria Chronicles is nice, RDR is rather good and imo much better than GTA IV (PC port of RDR would be nice). Also Ass Creeds are rather nice on ps3 than on pc even though inferior graphics. Uncharted games are also good.

What about Maijin and the Forsaken Kingdom (or something)? I've seen it for very cheap, and it looks different, but I don't recall hearing much about it. Any thoughts?

Also, I know there are a bunch of PS2 HD collections. I plan to get the God of War and Sly Cooper ones at some point--since I loved both of those series--but I'm less sure about the upcoming Jak & Daxter collection. I really enjoyed the first game in that series, but the sequel sounded like it decided to follow Ratchet & Clank's lead (to say nothing of a complete shift in art and tone) by emphasizing the acquisition and use of weapons over navigating an interesting environment, and I really disliked R&C for that very reason, so I never touched any of the Jak sequels. Are they worth looking into?

And, @Kelron: I understand where you're coming from, but I hated Gran Turismo 4 and consider GRID to be the best racing game I've ever played. I don't know much about cars, so GT's emphasis on fine tuning extremely realistic vehicles (to say nothing of their brutal Licensing system) was just a huge distraction that allowed me to ruin cars that I had gotten used to. GRID's quick pace, risk v. reward income structure, very unrealistic but handy replay feature, well-implemented damage system, and general ease of use stole my heart. That said, if GT5 is kinder it could be worth it for a visual showcase, when the price drops.

I really enjoyed Odin Sphere, and I would love a PS3 port of it. Despite being in 2D, it used so many effects during some boss fights that the PS2 simply couldn't handle it. Combine with it's rather high level of difficulty, and I was never able to push through to the end, despite a pretty decent plot and gorgeous visuals. That's also why I never picked up that 2D RTS they released (Grim Grimoire?).

If you have a Wii, Muramasa: The Demon Blade isn't terrible, though it's far too shallow an experience to justify it's Metroidvania-style map. It's also been severely Bowdlerized, to the point that the plot is quite difficult to follow.

The upcoming Dragon's Crown (PS3 & PSP) and Grand Knight's History (PSP) look sweet, too. GKH actually reviewed quite well in Japan, so you might keep an eye on it.

Also, I know there are a bunch of PS2 HD collections. I plan to get the God of War and Sly Cooper ones at some point--since I loved both of those series--but I'm less sure about the upcoming Jak & Daxter collection. I really enjoyed the first game in that series, but the sequel sounded like it decided to follow Ratchet & Clank's lead (to say nothing of a complete shift in art and tone) by emphasizing the acquisition and use of weapons over navigating an interesting environment, and I really disliked R&C for that very reason, so I never touched any of the Jak sequels. Are they worth looking into?

The Jak sequels are really good- the shift in tone is done fairly well, and the platforming is still fairly similar to the original. There's more of an emphasis on combat than in Jak 1, but not to the extent of Ratchet and Clank; there are only four weapons in Jak 2, and most of the missions and areas have the same kind of platforming segmets that were in Jak 1. The environments aren't any less interesting, and the plot, characters and dialogue are excellent in both. The only real problem is that 2 is significantly harder than 1 and 3, I can't vouch for the quality of the HD remakes, however, as I've only played the PS2 originals.

So yeah, the Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clanks games are both brilliant action/platformers- J&D is more platforming focussed, and R&C is more about the shooting things with ridiculous weaponry. The only other thing that comes to mind, barring multi-platform releases, is God of War, if you're into button-mashing, QTEs and ludicrous hyper-violence- I think it may well be the only game I've ever played that can be correctly described as visceral.

The Jak sequels are really good- the shift in tone is done fairly well, and the platforming is still fairly similar to the original. There's more of an emphasis on combat than in Jak 1, but not to the extent of Ratchet and Clank; there are only four weapons in Jak 2, and most of the missions and areas have the same kind of platforming segmets that were in Jak 1. The environments aren't any less interesting, and the plot, characters and dialogue are excellent in both. The only real problem is that 2 is significantly harder than 1 and 3, I can't vouch for the quality of the HD remakes, however, as I've only played the PS2 originals.

So yeah, the Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clanks games are both brilliant action/platformers- J&D is more platforming focussed, and R&C is more about the shooting things with ridiculous weaponry. The only other thing that comes to mind, barring multi-platform releases, is God of War, if you're into button-mashing, QTEs and ludicrous hyper-violence- I think it may well be the only game I've ever played that can be correctly described as visceral.

Yeah, GoW III is on my "must own" list. I may not get it immediately since I've played the PS2 and PSP versions, which seemed to indicate that the series is essentially just the same game, over and over. Although Ghost of Sparta seemed to subtly be mocking the series' ludicrousness via Kratos' completely unhinged destruction of Atlantis--seriously, there's no motivation for doing so beyond "the game requires it to progress"--and the hilarious sex minigame.

Originally Posted by sabrage

I was interested until I learned that it's a grid-based, block-pushing puzzler. If that sounds fun for you, I say go for it.

Yeah, GoW III is on my "must own" list. I may not get it immediately since I've played the PS2 and PSP versions, which seemed to indicate that the series is essentially just the same game, over and over. Although Ghost of Sparta seemed to subtly be mocking the series' ludicrousness via Kratos' completely unhinged destruction of Atlantis--seriously, there's no motivation for doing so beyond "the game requires it to progress"--and the hilarious sex minigame.

I just started playing God of War 3 just yesterday and I have to say that the additions they've made to the combat are genius. There's a much greater focus on aerial combat than before, and (as mentioned in a different thread) there's a broader focus on combat resulting in less puzzles (though they're certainly still there.) The wall-climbing combat is a lot more fleshed out too, which is great because I would've argued for its removal completely until I saw what they did with it. Harpies, in particular, are a lot less annoying thanks to the addition. Out of all the games I've played on the PS3(and yes, I've played Uncharted 2) GOW3 is above and beyond the one that impressed me the most. The game is worth playing for pure spectacle alone. I'm not talking Modern Warfare "explosion-after-explosion-in-another-explosion" spectacle; the set design can only truly be described as "epic." I'm absolutely loving it.